un-/wise to restring right before a tourney?

Part of me is scared to do it. Because my racket usually takes a couple days right after restringing before it loses that boardy feel before it settles in and plays "right."
At the same time, one of my rackets badly needs to be restrung. And there's this tourney coming up in three days and it'll be my first. I'm thinking of leaving the current, "dead strings" in, but that's partly because I'm lazy; but I'm afraid I might be rationalizing when I cite the period of boardiness as grounds for not restringing.
What would you do, restring it or not?

You say that one of your rackets needs the string job. How about restringing that one at a slightly lower tension that normal to get you through the tourney, while keeping the other racket (the same model I assume) as is.

You say that one of your rackets needs the string job. How about restringing that one at a slightly lower tension that normal to get you through the tourney, while keeping the other racket (the same model I assume) as is.

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I was thinking of trying this but it has always seemed that regardless of how carefully or thoughtfully I managed or controlled for the string tension while restringing, I have always felt like a few days of hitting were required with my newly restrung racket in which I was essentially "relearning" how to use my own racket right after a fresh string job.

I would restring before the tournament, especially if you're going to be playing singles (more likely you'll break a string than in dubs). You don't want to bust those old strings while you're playing and then have to adjust to another frame during the match.

Also, I can't imagine new but stiff-feeling strings not being a superior choice to dead strings that could break at any moment.

It's really a personal thing. Some people like the feel of new strings, some don't.

I personally like new strings for the first hour or so of play (they feel nice and springy to me), then I don't like them for the next 3-4 hours of play (feel boardy), and then after that they settle into 'normal' feel for the rest of their life.

In your case, why not restring, and then use the racquet for a few hours before the tournament to help the strings settle in? If you can't find someone to play with you could always hit against a wall or practice serves.

Well, thank you everyone who weighed in. I restrung both of my matched rackets tonight based on the consensus here. Hitting against a wall outside my apartment building just now, I could feel the extra pop already and cannot believe that I was dithering.

New strings stretch the most immediately after stringing and after that continue stretching to various degrees depending on material. Gut stays the most consistent throughout its life after the initial break-in. Some stringers will pre stretch strings before stringing. You can step on new strings with your foot to break it in a little but don't step too hard or you might pop a gut.